The Minnesota Vikings' offensive coordinator last season and a former head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Shurmur took the Giants' job on Jan. 22 and has not announced his staff. Yet, there's one assistant on the list -- Townsend, who has spent the past two seasons as the defensive-backs coach for the Tennessee Titans.

Tennessee coach Mike Mularkey was fired after the Titans lost in the second round of the AFC playoffs to the New England Patriots. He's been replaced by former Houston Texans defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel, who built a new staff for the Titans with Kerry Coombs as the secondary coach.

Townsend was a four-year starter at cornerback at Alabama from 1994 through 1997 before going to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth round of the 1998 NFL Draft. Townsend spent 12 seasons with the Steelers before finishing his NFL career with the Indianapolis Colts in 2010.

Townsend played in two Super Bowls with the Steelers. He was in the starting lineup for Pittsburgh's 21-10 victory over the Seattle Seahawks on Feb. 5, 2006, and he also played in a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Feb. 1, 2009. Townsend is one of the six former Alabama players who have been on two Super Bowl winners. The others are Dont'a Hightower, Larry Roberts, Jeff Rutledge, Bart Starr and Steve Wright.

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Another former Alabama standout who was a teammate of Townsend's and also played in the NFL found a spot on an NFL coaching staff this week. The Browns announced on Wednesday that Sam Shade had been added as the assistant special-teams coach.

This will be Shade's first NFL coaching position. He coached cornerbacks at Georgia State last season after spending seven years on the staff at Samford.

Shade was a 1,000-yard rusher and an All-Southern selection at defensive back as a senior at Wenonah High School in 1990. He was the strong safety on Alabama's national-championship team in 1992 and a team captain for the Crimson Tide in 1994.

Selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the fourth round of the 1995 NFL Draft, Shade spent eight seasons in the NFL -- four with the Bengals and four with the Washington Redskins.

Shade will work with another former Alabama player, Amos Jones, who is Cleveland's special-teams coordinator. Freddie Kitchens, a former teammate of Shade's at Alabama, is the Browns' associate head coach and running-backs coach.